Once you obtain a trademark, the information regarding the mark and the address associated with the mark become public record.
This information is becoming increasingly mined by trademark scammers and misused to create official looking correspondence that asks that the trademark holder to pay additional money. It's implied that the trademark holder either needs to pay the money to maintain the mark or the scammer can obtain a valuable “international” trademark.
The most common of these scams occurs when you receive an official looking document from a “government” agency urging you to register your mark in its book, with a vague promise of international protection. This is basically an invitation to have your trademark published in a book that, if it is ever even printed, probably has a circulation of three people, two dogs and one sheep. It gives you no rights and is a waste of money.
The second type of scam is again an official looking notice or even an invoice to pay past due fees. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, doesn't send out reminders, so these are 100 percent scams.
These letters are usually well timed to coincide with a renewal date, and the amounts are often the same as the renewal fee, so be careful here.
A third “service” is offered by several companies that have names very similar to USPTO and send out letters on letterhead that looks remarkably like the USPTO's, encouraging trademark holders to hire them for trademark monitoring services. These companies are not affiliated with the USPTO, and the office does a more than adequate job of policing incoming trademark applications.
Another “service” you will hear about revolves around the registration of Internet domain names. The e-mails or letters imply that the sender is on your side and was being approached by an unmentioned company that wanted to register some domain names, which include your trademarked name, in other countries.
The scammer then has one of two sales pitches. Either hire them to get you the trademark in that country or hire them to buy these domain names before the unmentioned company buys them.
You can avoid these scams. First, if you are represented by an attorney with the USPTO, any correspondence from USPTO will go directly to the attorney, so you shouldn't be getting any “bills” from third parties.
Second, if your attorney is willing, consider using his or her office address as your publicly listed address, and then your lawyer can throw away all of your junk mail.
For more information, call Eric Hanscom at (760) 804-1712 or visit www.iciplaw.com.
This information is becoming increasingly mined by trademark scammers and misused to create official looking correspondence that asks that the trademark holder to pay additional money. It's implied that the trademark holder either needs to pay the money to maintain the mark or the scammer can obtain a valuable “international” trademark.
The most common of these scams occurs when you receive an official looking document from a “government” agency urging you to register your mark in its book, with a vague promise of international protection. This is basically an invitation to have your trademark published in a book that, if it is ever even printed, probably has a circulation of three people, two dogs and one sheep. It gives you no rights and is a waste of money.
The second type of scam is again an official looking notice or even an invoice to pay past due fees. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, doesn't send out reminders, so these are 100 percent scams.
These letters are usually well timed to coincide with a renewal date, and the amounts are often the same as the renewal fee, so be careful here.
A third “service” is offered by several companies that have names very similar to USPTO and send out letters on letterhead that looks remarkably like the USPTO's, encouraging trademark holders to hire them for trademark monitoring services. These companies are not affiliated with the USPTO, and the office does a more than adequate job of policing incoming trademark applications.
Another “service” you will hear about revolves around the registration of Internet domain names. The e-mails or letters imply that the sender is on your side and was being approached by an unmentioned company that wanted to register some domain names, which include your trademarked name, in other countries.
The scammer then has one of two sales pitches. Either hire them to get you the trademark in that country or hire them to buy these domain names before the unmentioned company buys them.
You can avoid these scams. First, if you are represented by an attorney with the USPTO, any correspondence from USPTO will go directly to the attorney, so you shouldn't be getting any “bills” from third parties.
Second, if your attorney is willing, consider using his or her office address as your publicly listed address, and then your lawyer can throw away all of your junk mail.
For more information, call Eric Hanscom at (760) 804-1712 or visit www.iciplaw.com.